Meade LX-6 2120

Subject: inspect before you buy
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.246.27)
Date: 11/30/2002 12:27:25 am PST
Bought mine secondhand, thought I was getting a good deal but I should have taken someone along to check it out. Looked impressive all setup. Electronics seemed to work and the optics looked in reasonable condition.

However soon found out the electronics worked intermittently. Either the base unit or the hand controller has malfunctioned and wierd things happen. After taking the scope to the local astronomy club, found out the secondary coatings had degraded quite badly. An email to Meade confirmed what the club had said and that is the optical system had to be replaced at a cost of £1500. Meade also carried no spares for the drive system. Meaning a hefty bill also awaited for that too. Hence the scope now resides at the local landfill site but not before I had the pleasure of beating it to a pulp with a hammer.

Subject: Re: inspect before you buy
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.190.129)
In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.246.27) (Original Message)
Date: 12/23/2002 12:41:16 am PST
>Bought mine secondhand, thought I was getting a good deal but I should have taken someone along to check it out. Looked impressive all setup. Electronics seemed to work and the optics looked in reasonable condition. >>However soon found out the electronics worked intermittently. Either the base unit or the hand controller has malfunctioned and wierd things happen. After taking the scope to the local astronomy club, found out the secondary coatings had degraded quite badly. An email to Meade confirmed what the club had said and that is the optical system had to be replaced at a cost of Â£1500. Meade also carried no spares for the drive system. Meaning a hefty bill also awaited for that too. Hence the scope now resides at the local landfill site but not before I had the pleasure of beating it to a pulp with a hammer.>>These are old scopes now and need careful checking before buying.

In response to beating an SCT to a pulp with a hammer because it's secondary coatings had degraded- I think you'll find that the secondary can be "relatively" easily removed and recoated by most aluminizers without sending it to Meade. Before you remove the corrector plate, you must mark the edge of the plate and the edge of the OTA so that everything can go back together in the same way it was removed. The secondary housing unscrews from the corrector by grabbing the secondary shaft and twisting counter-clockwise. When everything is back together you simply recollimate.

If the electronics are going on the unit, at least it could be used manually. Any club could always use an extra 10" scope.

Subject: Re: inspect before you buy
By: BBQedIguana
In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.190.129) (Original Message)
Date: 04/03/2004 04:27:16 pm PST
>If the electronics are going on the unit, at least it could be used manually. Any club could always use an extra 10" scope. >>A great pity really!

I absolutely agree! I actually don't use the hand controller on my LX-6 - I just flick on the quartz RA motor when I'm observing. It works just like my old C8 did, and it draws less than 1/2 the current than the scope does with the encoders and hand controller attached. I'm strictly a visual observer, so this works fine for me, and the views are splendid! It's a real shame that someone would destroy such a nice scope.